Govt clamps down on benami properties, may make Aadhaar linking mandatory soon

Union Housing Minister Hardeep Puri has said that in order to curb the benami property menace, mandatory linkage of Aadhaar may be made soon. In an interview given to Economic Times, Puri said, linking property transactions to Aadhaar will go a long way in sucking out black money from real estate and help in cracking down benami properties.

Refraining from making an announcement on linking Aadhaar to property deals, Puri said, since the government has already been taking steps like linking Aadhaar to bank accounts, they may take additional steps for property as well. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has, on several occasions, indicated that there will be a crackdown on benami properties and linking Aadhaar will be one of the many steps in that drive. Earlier in May, PM Modi had said that the law against benami properties came up in 1988, but for 28 years, no one did anything about it.

Calling it a logical conclusion in government’s attempts at bringing transparency in economy, Puri said, while Aadhaar linkage will happen, no one can be absolutely sure that transactions between two people are completely transparent. Large-value transactions like property and air tickets should be monitored.

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Commenting on the cashless economy, Puri said, while no economy in the world is completely cashless, moving around with large chunk of money is deterrent to a stable economy. MP Baijayant Jay Panda hailed the move and said while the shift may hurt, but then so does any major reform which aims to bring formal structural changes in the economy.

It’ll hit black money & benami holdings like the proverbial ton of bricks! Of course, the real estate sector will hurt even more than it already is. This kind of structural shift to a formal, tax-compliant, modern economy was never going to be without pain… pic.twitter.com/h0w9kqiy0p